WEBER COUNTY — What do you want to be when you grow up? A new program in the Weber School District is giving students an opportunity to start answering that question through real-world experience.

The district's new Catalyst campus is designed to help students explore their interests and gain hands-on experience in potential career fields. "We want to start helping our students identify that at a younger age, and through experience, they'll know what they want to do and what they don't want to do," said Nicki Slaw, principal of Innovation High.

The program will offer students eight career pathways, including health sciences, computer science, engineering, design and entrepreneurship. Rather than simply learning about those careers in a classroom, students will have opportunities to work directly with industry professionals on real-world projects.

"What we're trying to do more of is connect students to industry, real-world projects where they get an opportunity to work with industry partners," said Rod Belnap, the district's CTE director. Belnap said those partnerships can give students a better understanding of what working in a particular field is actually like. "When you're working with an industry partner on a real-life website, that really adds an element to it," he said.